In the past months I have had the opportunity to tell students of several universities and universities of applied sciences in The Netherlands about the misconceptions around China’s social credit system. During one of these guest lectures we asked the students to do their own research about the topic and present their views before I did my talk. The result was shocking … In their own desk research using maninstream media they had been convinced by the same misconceptions I was trying to debunk. My own presentation left them baffled about the misinformation that they had found in the media and it shook their trust in our own media.
Since this occurred I have had the opportunity to do an extended version on my presentation in Shanghai, at a speakers event organised by Hutong School and Dutch Belgian Young Professionals. Two weeks later I had the pleasure to present this version once again to a delegetion of Sogeti, a division of Cap Gemini, and their customers during a study trip we co-organised.
In this extended version of the lecture I go deeper into the history of the social credit system, the reasons for habitual distrust in Chinese society and the role that the media plays in shaping our misconceptions. I am very glad to be able to publish the ‘full story version’ of this talk as recorded during the Sogeti session in Beijing.